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by winterwood11
Summary: Charlie Weasley And Gabrielle Delacour. They can't possibly be together with such a great difference between them, can they? "You should go out more, explore the world before choosing to settle down."


Gabrielle Delacour was a miniature version of Fleur, her older sister. She was like her in so many ways. They had the same long silvery blond hair, the same fair skin and of course, the same charm. She looked delicate and fragile, and she spoke with a sweet lilting voice.

Charlie Weasley had the trademark Weasley red hair. His skin was covered with so many freckles that it looked tanned. He was strong and robust, from years of quidditch and handling rebellious dragons. He spoke with a deep voice with an undertone of roughness.

By some twisted accident on the part of their older siblings, Charlie Weasley had fallen in love with Gabrielle. It was the married couple's entire fault. If Fleur were not getting married to Bill, Charlie would not have seen Gabrielle in that lovely golden dress, looking prettier than usual. Charlie would not have danced with her or talked to her. In fact, Charlie would never have met Gabrielle at all!

It had all started innocently enough…

"Would you like a dance?" Charlie smiled at the young girl.

Of course, even at the age of eleven, Gabrielle already knew how to handle such situations in such a charming way. It must run in her veela blood.

"Yes," She smiled back, turning up her veela charm. Charlie offered his hand to her, and she held it lightly.

"So, how do you like the wedding, Gabrielle?" Charlie attempted to make a conversation, so that he would not stare at her and make her uncomfortable. He was starting to regret his decision, there was something about Gabrielle that made him attracted to her; it must be the veela part.

"It eez very nice, pleeze call me Gabby," Gabrielle answered, looking up ever so slightly. She followed Charlie's lead and did a little twirl here and a dip over there…

She looked divine, if Charlie had to say so himself. And that thought, it scared him. She was fifteen years younger than him! They were to treat each other as siblings, not… what he was thinking of!

"One does not simply fall in love in first sight," Charlie told himself in his mind. Besides, Gabrielle was a whole decade younger than him. They could never be. And then, that made him even more nervous. Why was he thinking so deeply into this? It was just a harmless dance with his sister in law, a friendly one, wasn't it?

"Charlie, old boy, act more natural for goodness sake," He muttered to himself.

Charlie snapped himself out of his reverie as the song ended. The two of them went over to the drinks and spoke for a while, starting from polite conversation and ending with a lively debate about dragons.

"So how can zey be nice then?" Gabby asked him.

Charlie was just about to go into a long winded explanation when suddenly, he heard a scream.

He immediately looked up as he saw the patronus soar above him. And then, the dreaded information came. The joyous mood of the wedding was gone at once.

"Protego!" Charlie heard Tonks shout. The spell was cast again in rapid succession by many others.

Charlie watched in horror as the death eaters came in. Then, he snapped to his senses.

"Stupefy!" Charlie grabbed his wand from his pocket and shouted. Then, he grabbed Gabrielle and disapparated.

Charlie had brought Gabrielle to the first place he thought of, which incidentally, was a forest in his workplace, the dragon rehabilitation place in Romania.

"Are you all right?" Charlie looked over Gabby anxiously. She seemed fine, if a little shocked. He let her sit down for a while as he wondered what happened to his family. And Harry. What if the ministry got Harry? Charlie sighed at the thought.

"Will our families be fine?" Gabrielle asked, breaking Charlie's train of thoughts. Yet, it comforted him to have someone equally worried about their family with him. The rest of the time was spent in silence until Charlie saw it fit for them to go back.

"Oh, you're with her!" Charlie heard the sound of Mrs Delacour as he apparated back into the Burrow.

"Thank you so much for keeping her safe!" Fleur hugged Gabrielle in delight.

"Thank you," Gabrielle whispered to Charlie and gave him a smile as she ran off to her sister and her parents.

How things had progressed from then. After that, Gabrielle had definitely paid more attention to Charlie than she probably would have done in the past.

Now, Voldemort had been defeated. It had been seven years since Charlie and Gabby had first danced with each other.

Charlie was still enchanted by her, but now, Gabrielle was of course, no longer as innocent. The war had affected both of them. Some of Gabrielle's friends had been killed, and that hurt her tremendously.

Charlie had tried to comfort her when the war had just ended. She seemed to be touched by his actions. Six years down the road, Gabby had turned 17. She and Charlie still had quite a good relationship, and were starting to advance romantically. However, whenever that happened, Charlie would shirk and suggest acting just as friends. Charlie still felt like weird. There was such a big year gap between them.

"Charlie, can you stop acting like this? Just answer this question, do you like me or not?" Gabrielle asked.

Charlie looked at Gabrielle. "Yes, but there are too many years between us. Also, I won't be able to provide much for you. You deserve someone younger and more, more financially able."

"Charlie, I don't want someone younger or richer! I want you!" Gabrielle shouted in anger.

"I-I," Charlie stammered. "You're still young Gabby, you should go out more and explore the world before choosing to settle down."

Charlie felt his heart break as Gabrielle looked at him with her eyes brimming with tears. Then she turned and walked away.

Following that incident, Gabrielle changed. She partied wildly and got drunk; she toyed with peoples' feelings…

Charlie felt guilty. Perhaps, if he had just accepted her, things would not be like this. Most importantly, Charlie missed Gabrielle. So, he gathered up his courage one day and went to her house.

The door opened and Gabrielle came out.

Gabrielle Delacour had the same long silvery blond hair, the same fair skin and of course, the same charm as in the past. Yet, she did not look as delicate, as fragile. Charlie wondered if he had ruined that. Perhaps, she had to harden her demeanour to hide her pain.

"Yes, Charlie?" Gabby asked indifferently.

"Stop," Charlie said.

"You asked me to Charlie, you did." Gabrielle said, looking at the horizon.

"And I regret it," Charlie replied. "Gabby, have you explored enough?"

There was silence. Then, Gabrielle turned around and looked straight at Charlie, "Yes, I believe so."

The wind tousled the couple's hair as they leant in for a kiss.


End file.
